Of Wiretaps and National Security

Of Wiretaps and National Security
By Daniel G. Jennings
The political debate over President Bush’s decision to use the National Security Agency’s electronic warfare capabilities to eavesdrop upon telephone calls, e-mails, faxes and other communications between American citizens and certain regions overseas maybe obscuring a far greater scandal that could expose terrible corruption at our nation’s highest levels.
Personally, I think the president is right American citizens have no expectation of privacy when communicating with individuals in enemy territory during a time of war. That’s basically what the critics of this policy are arguing and it makes little sense.
In this War on Terror we are fighting an enemy that attacks using operatives hidden among our population. These operatives must communicate with their leaders who are based in certain areas overseas: Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq etc. The most likely way for the terrorists to do this is through electronic communications such as faxes, e-mails and phone calls. Therefore it makes sense to monitor such traffic to see if we can detect messages between terrorists and their bosses overseas.
Current law written during the Cold War states that Uncle Sam must get a warrant from a special court based in Washington to conduct such eavesdropping. This law made sense when it was passed back in 1978, after all the threat back then was Russian spies swiping weapons plans. Obviously, a threat to national security but hardly an immediate threat. We could afford to wait a couple of days to listen to a KGB agent’s phone calls.
Al Qaeda is a different kettle of fish they’re plotting to blow up our cities and possibly deploy weapons of mass destruction against us. Our authorities must be able to instantly begin listening the minute they detect a terrorist. More importantly authorities must be in a position to conduct broad monitoring of communications lines. We don’t know where every terrorist is and what they’re planning.
Our spies can’t wait around to get a judge’s signature when the lives of hundreds or thousands of our people are at risk. They must be free to act ASAP not wait two or three days, days in which a terrorist cell might strike.
Perhaps President Bush should have went to Congress to get the law changed. The problem with that is Congressional hearings and discussions might have revealed details of this program to the world and to the terrorists.
It must be noted that Congress is a considerable security risk, the Abrahamoff scandal demonstrates how easy it is to buy members of Congress and their staff. Some members of Congress also hold radical political opinions opposed to the nation’s security policies, while others have close ties to foreign governments. Bush might not have went to Congress because he was aware of security leaks in Congress. If such Congressional security leaks exist that could be a far worse scandal than either Abrahamoff or eavesdropping.
This scandal also exposes what is wrong with the Democratic Party, the vast majority of Americans aren’t making phone calls to the Middle East. Mainly, a few wealthy business men, lawyers and journalists are. So why are the Democrats concerned about the NSA doing routine monitoring of such conversations? Notice they weren’t concerned when the program was secret only after it was exposed to the public by The New York Times and became the worry of the bi-coastal elite.
Why are the wealthy elitists in New York, Washington and LA so worried about Uncle Sam listening to their calls to the Middle East? Perhaps they’re afraid that the NSA spooks will hear some of their secrets such as sleazy deals with hostile governments and terrorists? Maybe they’re scared that the details of some of these conversations might get leaked to the press and they’ll have to explain their dealings to Congress, reporters and their fellow citizens? Or worse to the Federal Grand Jury and the US Attorney.
Once again the Democrats are putting the cause of the elitists who sign their paychecks ahead of the good of the country and its people. That’s sad and disgusting, and it explains why the Democrats will not regain control of Congress in the Fall.
Still, it also shows how both parties and the media are missing the real story. The response to this eavesdropping story may hint at a far worse scandal and deep corruption among our nation’s leaders. I wonder did NSA workers leak this story because they didn’t like the eavesdropping or because they wanted the country to know the contents of some of the conversations they’re listening to? It’s a question we deserve to have an answer to.